


Not a Theatre

by cicatrixtwigs



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Agoraphobia, Gen, Jester loves her mama
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-20
Updated: 2020-09-20
Packaged: 2021-03-07 16:27:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,701
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26560642
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cicatrixtwigs/pseuds/cicatrixtwigs
Summary: Jester wants to suprise her mama.
Relationships: Jester Lavorre & Marion Lavorre | Ruby of the Sea
Comments: 7
Kudos: 34





	Not a Theatre

“Caaaaaaaaaaaaayleb.”

Caleb looked-up from his book. He knew that tone.

“Jester.”

The tiefling was peering around the doorway into his study. So, she wanted something. She usually just bounded in, privacy be damned, but she always tried to be respectful when she was after something. She chewed on her lip and he couldn’t help the wry smile that curved his lips.

“What do you need my help with?”

That broke the seal. She grinned, and barrelled into the room.

“So I was thinking. You know those amazing windows at Ickython’s tower? They were preeeeeetty cool you know.”

He nodded “Ja, pretty cool.”

“But in the mansion – I noticed that Yasha has those beautiful plains of wildflowers outside her window. But Fjord has a sea view.”

“Correct. It’s just part the illusion Jester.”

“Okay so can you change it? Or is it set once the mansion is created?”

 _What are you angling for Lavorre?_ His brow creased slightly “Do you want to change your view? I thought you’d like to see your home…” he’d made sure to memorise the view from her balcony perfectly.

“Oh!” She threw up her hands in a conciliatory gesture “Oh. Oh no no no. My room is perfect. But I have an idea and I’d like to make another room. It’s anywhere you have been, right?”

“Technically, anywhere I can imagine. But yes, I have a very good memory, Jester. I can depict the places we have been.”

She clapped her hands together and rubbed them gleefully. “Yesssssssssss. Okay so here is what we are going to need…”

* * *

Marion was just putting the finishing touches to her outfit in front of the mirror when rapid footfalls barrelling up the staircase caught her attention, before the door burst open.

“Mama!”

Marion turned reflectively to catch the hug Jester launched in her direction.

“My little Sapphire!“ She peppered kisses on her head, simultaneously giving her a little squeeze. She felt strong, healthy. Good. “Welcome home!”

Jester beamed up at her, positively vibrating.

“Are you ready? I mean, of course you are, look at you.”

Marion’s eyes flickered to the balcony.

“I… I am my darling. At least, ready to try.”

Jesters nose scrunched up “To try? What…” Catching her mothers’ glance toward the balcony, her lips formed a silent o. “No! No no no Mama, oh I’m so sorry! When I said I wanted to show you something I didn’t mean we needed to go outside.”

Marion exhaled, her posture suddenly becoming much more relaxed.

“Oh. That is… that is good.” She paused and added hesitantly “… you didn’t bring anything… strange… into my home did you?”

“Only my friends” Jester twinkled, and Marion barked a genuinely surprised laugh.

“Well. As you say. So where is this surprise?”

Jester looped her arm through her mothers and started leading her down the hall “My bedroom. Weeeeeeeeeell… technically my wardrobe. Technically neither of those places. You’ll see.”

As they approached the wardrobe, Jester dropped Marion’s arm and ran towards the wardrobe, throwing wide the doors with a flourish and ending in a low bow, her swooping arm ushering Marion forward.

“I…” Marion eyed the wavering light, her hand absently reaching up to clasp the pendant she wore, resting over her heart. “Where will this take me, Jester?”

Jester straightened

“Oh. Nowhere. That’s the point.”

Marion hesitantly stepped forward and peered through the… doorway? The beautiful stained-glass windows stretched higher than she could see.

“Jester, my home does not have a room like that. Especially one inside your wardrobe.” She looked around distractedly “Where did all your clothes go?”

“Oh mama” sighed Jester “They are fine. I made sure before I let Caleb use this wardrobe.” She sidled back up to her mother and hooked her arm again, free hand resting on her upper arm reassuringly. “You know how I used to make blanket forts?”

Marion’s lips quirked “Used to?”

Jester beamed “Look mama, last time we were here I had to explain to Yasha what a blanket fort was, and then Beau and I got into a bit of a competition about who could build the biggest one and…”

Marion cut in “…and I had blankets all down the stairs.”

Jester looked a little sheepish for a second.

“Yes mama.”

Marion leant in conspiratorially and said quietly “Did you win though?”

Jester giggled and flipped her hair, “Of course” her voice dropped lower into an approximation of a fancy accent “Just who do you think I am?”

Marion squeezed her in a side hug.

“But anyway” Jester continued “And you know how I told you Caleb made that bubble to keep us safe while we were on the road? You know, the one that big dragon couldn’t bite through?”

Marion’s stomach dropped a little at the thought of her baby that close to a dragon’s maw.

“I...remember.” She managed. Jester didn’t seem to pick up on the hesitation

“Weeeeeeeeeeeeell he got better at it. This is our new blanket fort! So technically it is inside your house. Also its just like… rooms. Not outside.” She squeezed Marion’s arm “I promise.”

Marion warily eyed the doorway. It did look like a room, no matter how improbable.

“Jester?” Beaus head suddenly appeared through the doorway “Oh! Good, come on, Deuces made tea and it’s getting cold. Hi Marion!”

Marion lifted the arm not clutched by Jester in a shrug

“Well, we can’t be the cause of cold tea.”

Still holding her closely, her hand squeezing just a little tighter as they passed the threshold, Marion allowed Jester to lead her through the doorway.

* * *

Jester clung to her mother’s arm. Oh, this was going to be so, so good.

Marion was clutching the pendent again, staring wide eyed at the floor to ceiling stained glass as the light behind it warmed the room.

“Oh Jester.” Marion breathed “As beautiful as the drawings you hung in your blanket forts always were, this is… something else.”

In relief across the windows were scenes from the adventures Jester had told her about. Fjord throwing a sword into lava. Beauregard, head bowed but posture not cowed, as she waits in front of a pirate king. Jester, holding up a cupcake. So many moments.

Caleb had sidled up to Marion’s other side

“Thank you. I wanted to somehow embody the light the Nein brought into my life.”

Marion let go of Jester and walked forward to inspect the windows. Jester edged closer, bumped Caleb’s shoulder with her own, and gave him a big thumbs up. He gave her that smile, that one where he dropped his head and tried to hide it behind his hair. The one where he was proud of himself, but didn’t like to admit it. Jester resolved to encourage that smile to come out into the open.

“Is everything ready?” she whispered to him.

“Ja, of course. Although if we do not hurry, Veth may have eaten all the pastries you brought.”

Jester let out an indignant squeak “She what?”

She caught that smile again

“CALEB!” she chastised, poking him in the chest “Do not ever fib to me where pastries are concerned.”

“Ja, Ja okay” he chuckled “But I think the second anyone starts eating them she will not hesitate, so we might want to hurry this along.”

Marion turned back to them both, pulling Jester into a hug and resting her arm on Caleb’s, circling them together. Jester always admired how her mama managed to include people while being respectful of their boundaries.

“my darlings, this has been absolutely wonderful. Thank you so much for sharing this with me.”

Jester snorted “Pft! Mama, no! This isn’t the surprise!”

Marion looked non plussed

“It isn’t?”

“Nooooooooo!” Jester winked at Caleb, who stepped back and ushered them towards a grand looking golden doorway “Mama. This way.”

Jester led Marion through the doorway.

The room was soft, plush, with soft black velvet carpeting the walls and floors. Comfortable looking seats were splashed around the room, with the Nein lounging in various positions. Trays of pastries flanked the seating area and Caduceus waved at them, beginning to pour three more cups of tea.

All of the seating was facing towards the final wall, where a large red velvet curtain hung.

“Mama, take a seat, get some tea. I need to go start your surprise!” She peered around her mama at Caleb “Okay?”

“Ya, any time.” He nodded, and Jester bounded off to the red curtain.

She scrambled up on the stage, ran to the centre and took a deep breath, casting thaumaturgy to amplify her voice.

“Friends and family, Welcome…”

On cue, the curtains drew back, revealing Jester in front of a large glass pane.

“…To the Mighty Nein Theatre!”

 _Not a Theatre,_ a voice just behind her added, softly

“Ah fuck” she muttered, amending “…The Mighty Nein Not-A-Theatre!” before hissing “We need a better name, Artie”

She felt more than saw the smile from the corner of her eye, as her friends whooped and cheered in the audience. She waited for them to quiet before commenting.

“The Mighty Nein, a band of heroes. Slayers of false gods. Breakers of chains. You have heard their name many times before. But, as many times as you have heard these stories, you have never _experienced_ them.” She added, stressing the word, before brightly adding “Now you can, from the comfort of your own home!”

She winked at her mama.

“Our latest tale begins with the Nein upon the ocean…”

The glass pane behind her is suddenly filled with endless blue water, stretching to the horizon.

“As we approach the tropical island of Vo.”

The picture shifts to the view from Ball Eater as they approached the island of Vo, the volcano slowly simmering above the tropical foliage.

The show goes off without a hitch, Jester weaving a captivating story. Veth’s audible gasp at the successful banishment of Vokodo, Fjords incredulous hissed “You were there!” and grunt of pain when Veth threw a ball bearing at him nearly distracted her, but this was for her mama, and she wouldn’t let anything get in the way of her story.

And it was all worth it, for how her Mama’s eyes shone.

**Author's Note:**

> Their next show is slightly more PG showfor Luc, a re-enactment of a ship battle, and they use control water and some controlled (ish) explosions from Veth to really sell it.
> 
> As soon as i thought about the Mansion, i thought about how Jester could use it to show her mama some of the places they had been. Unusual uses of spells from these kids is the norm, right?


End file.
